When I visited Cuba in 1991, people asked, “Vecsey, why doesn’t your government end the blockade and let some business in here?”

I replied, “Sure, el bloqueo is dumb, but think about it: what if American business did come to Cuba …Have you ever heard of a man named Trump?”

This was my worst example of a rapacious developer who would put up gaudy, expensive hotels along the waterfront and destroy the feel of the old city.

The Cubans nodded no. They were living 30-plus years in the past. Baseball fans were still asking about DiMaggio and Williams and Jackie Robinson.

I had to explain to them there was a New York guy named Trump who built casinos and was known for his playboy ways – sounded like the bad old days, when Americans used Cuba for their pleasure.

I told them: “He’ll bulldoze the Malecón” --the seaside promenade where young people congregate -- “and put up crappy-looking buildings and all the people living downtown will be back in the sugar fields.”

Cubans did not have much in 1991 -- one egg a week, very little meat, and no basic goods like shampoo, which was sold in dollar stores, for tourists. A well-placed friend had a couple of doctors in her family; they brought home used soap from the hospital and she boiled it down for personal use – “like my grandmother used to do,” she said.

That was life under Fidel, life under Communism – “The God That Failed,” from the 1949 confessional by six writers.

By 1991, if you wanted to talk about the government in Cuba, you lowered your voice and never mentioned Castro’s name. A furtive stroking of an imaginary beard conjured up the image.

While we were there for the Pan-American Games, the Soviet Union started to come down. I sat with some new friends in a bar and watched state television. My friends knew that Castro had rejected Gorbachev, the reformer; they shook their heads in fear and disdain. Within days, Russian oil tankers and Russian specialists steamed out of the harbor.

In the past two years, the Cuban people have seen a reasonable American President named Obama start to open lines between the two neighbors.

Now Fidel is dead -- and thousands are celebrating on Calle Ocho in Miami – and that builder of casinos that I used as the vulgar example of American business will now preside over that giant country just across the water.

for god's sake you should've been warning yer fella 'mericans, not Cubans.

bruce

Reply

George Vecsey

11/27/2016 07:50:56 pm

"hey, what's the use in singing this song,
"Some of you are not even listening" --

Handsome Johnny, Richie Havens, Mixed Bag album

(about the Vietnam war, but applicable to Trump....most of his voters don't even know about his bad business record in NY. He owes a friend of mine $1G for a simple free-lance PR job years ago. Just cut the fee in half when it was time to pay. The Donald.)

Reply

Brian Savin

11/27/2016 09:46:49 pm

George, I can. perhaps, go one better. I know two folks in the NYC building business in executive positions who have had relations with The Donald, who don't like him. I don't know who they voted for, but I wouldn't be surprised if both did. The sonofabitch in him matters mostly in terms of how he applies that persona to his new job. It is a trait that the people who live in the vast majority of American territory believe matters. "Drain the swamp" resonates. Let's give him a shot. He represents the vast portion of our population outside of a few overpopulated urban centers. There is a vast and much more diverse country outside those too-similar areas.

bruce

11/27/2016 09:59:47 pm

'brian,

always makes me smile when I read about flyover states or the coasts. more than 80% of americans live in urban areas. aren't Californians, new Yorkers etc etc just as American as people from Kansas or Alabama or......not sure what you mean by more diversity in the areas outside those too similar areas. have the people he's named to senior positions so far have no experience with the "swamp"?

Reply

Brian Savin

11/27/2016 10:13:31 pm

Bruce, I think, so far, they all have experience in the swamp as minority-thinking outsiders. I'll also add this: They all seem to have overlooked personal values of heretofore historical importance. As for myself, I'm satisfied with all of them for a variety of reasons. Let's see them perform. I don't know, but I would be surprised if our assessments of their future actions would differ all that much.

As to the diversity point, take a look at the NYT geographic distribution of votes. There was a lot more similarity in the populations of the small geographic parts of the country that voted for Hillary than there is in the vast geography that voted for Trump.

Reply

bruce

11/27/2016 10:52:34 pm

brian,

it will be interesting to see how it turns out, but when you see him tweeting that there were millions of bogus votes which is why Hillary had a few million more votes than he died, it just makes you shake your head. he has no proof and every academic study I've read about says there are only a minicule number of illegal votes. fyi, the conservative party pulled that nonsense last time. there was no proof and people who studied the numbers said it was nonsense.

if he lies about everything without a thought--big things AND small things, how could anybody have any confidence in anything he says?

I get your point about geography, but numbers are numbers. i'm Canadian and my province, Ontario, has about 38% of the country's population and its largest city. geography might look different than the actual numbers, but numbers talk.

Reply

Brian Savin

11/29/2016 08:38:50 pm

Bruce, there is a not insignificant argument to be made to defend Trump's statement. The first is that certain states, including my own Connecticut and California both permit illegals to obtain drivers licenses and permit voting registration by showing a valid drivers license and a valid social security number, which are available online and hard to trace to actual individuals. The second thing of note is that Zonies vote Democrat. Dead people on voting roles exercising their former franchise has been a problem in cities for a very long time. It still is.

By the way, Trump hasn't taken office yet but has apparently saved jobs at Carrier from going abroad. This is an interesting guy. Let's watch dispationately for a bit.

Reply

brian

11/29/2016 09:09:52 pm

brian,

there's no doubt there is voting fraud.

there is also no doubt--from what i've read are experts who studied the data--that the percentage is so small as to be insignificant. conservatives in canada tried the same stunt and people who study such things said the number, i believe, was in double digits.

as for carrier, it's possible, but we don't know details. remember jfk was given credit for forcing the russkies down etc etc. only came out later that he'd agreed to have missiles in turkey--which bordered the soviet union at the time--dismantled.

We live in an age of instant communication where speed of response appears to be more important than accuracy. This is often compounded by ideologies that distort reason and facts.

The devil is in the details, which often get lost in the hype.

Our founding fathers received their news by word of mouth, horseback or ship, none of which came close to what we refer to today as “snail mail”. Our diplomats often forged treaties and made excellent decisions in England and Europe only to have instructions arrive after the fact advising not to do what was done.

The Louisiana Purchase occurred because James Madison decided not to wait for instructions from President Jefferson. Madison was authorized to pay $3M for the purchase of New Orleans. However, it was learned that Napoleon had suddenly offered all of the Louisiana Territory for $15M.

Robert Livingston, our ambassador to France, wanted to wait for instructions, but Madison did not want to risk Napoleon changing his mind. Madison figured that congress would approve it, which is what occurred. It should be noted that they did not even know the boundaries of the area that was being purchased.

Alleged voter fraud is an example of self-serving misinformation that has been regularly served up through instant communication as fact. Much more serious and damaging has been voter suppression, which probably had an effect upon the election.

It is a fair statement that Trump should be judged by what he does as president, but his early nominees do not bode well for voting rights.

Reply

Brian Savin

11/30/2016 08:13:02 pm

Alan, I agree we should just wait snd see. I do wish, however, there was more appreciation in our public discourse of the very, very serious ethical conflicts of the Clintons. But more than that, I think our current President is, truly, a very nice man who cares. However, I also am convinced he was unprepared for the job and clueless about the powers of his office -- and that is exactly what was intended by his handlers who orchestrated his election. Our President is not a man who can be said was in the control of the office or who had a clear substantive agenda. I have previously written about evidence of his cluelessness -- disclosed, inter alia, in an Academy Award winning documentary, "Inside Job," and a treatise by a Pulitzer Prize winning author and Obama supporter, Ron Suskind ("Confidence Men").

As to voter fraud, I think you are admirably hopeful, but way too facile in your evaluation of the state of the current problem. I've been through it, personally. Let's see what develops now that we have a new set of eyes. No sense in going beyond that unless and until it is investigated.
Best
Brian

Reply

Brian Savin

12/2/2016 09:00:15 pm

That particular Post article misconstrues the definition, which literally necessitates that the truth was at first objectively established, then ignored. The Post article does the Queen of Hearts' English proud. Another such instance is yesterday's "discussion" at Harvard between the two campaign staffs.

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